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Foreclosure in Elmira
- Thread starter ThePickleReport
- Start date
The E-C market is a tough nut to crack---there's lot of stations and only a couple of them cover the entire market as defined by Arbitron. My advice to a prospective owner is to super-serve the city of license. What a concept, eh?
Does anyone want to bet that some religious outfit will come in and buy a number of these low-power stations that are for sale.
The Voice of Reason said:
This brings back a memory. I've driven Route 17 (now I-86 in many parts of NY) more than I care to admit or count. Years ago, when 17 ran through the cities of Corning and Elmira, there was a big sign (much like the famous "Hollywood" sign) on the hills just north of Corning that was clearly visible to westbound drivers. The sign read, "Jesus Saves." It was well-lighted and visible for miles. Some pranksters with a sense of humor and heresy attached a clearly visible sign beneath the original. It read "Green Stamps." I have no idea how long that post script remained up there, but I'm sure it gave plenty of drivers a good chuckle.
Now this brings to mind a line that I actually heard in church... everybody who lives in an NHL city knows it. "Jesus Saves.... Gretzky scores on the rebound."
Boy, I sure hope this post doesn't come back to bite me in the arss this Tuesday.
Act of Contrition forthcoming.
The Elmira-Corning market always seemed to have too many radio stations lumped into it. You had the stations from Watkins Glen, stations that covered a wide area, and all put into the same market. You're right, there are very few who can really be of service to the entire area. But many markets are now in the same boat as the 80-90 docket FMs were added, and lots of small towns got lower powered AMs with tricky directional arrays to fit into an already crowded spectrum. In many ways a lot of these stations should be deleted, as they no longer serve any real purpose. Look at how many cluster operations have 1-2 stations that have some real value, and 3-5 others all running on computers out of closets that don't do anything more than have some sort of satellite or computer programming that just grinds away. I don't think E-C is much different than Binghamton, or northeastern PA in that respect. The Harrisburg-Lancaster-York-Carlisle PA market is even more complicated than the others, full of stations that don't really serve the whole market, and many of those stations are just running "filler" programming. It is really a nationwide issue. And I do remember the "Jesus" sign.ThePickleReport said:
The "infamous" Jesus sign; who can forget that ;D
I will be keeping an eye on this board for the latest update on my alma mater WCBA to see what happens.
I will be keeping an eye on this board for the latest update on my alma mater WCBA to see what happens.
BrigThomson said:
I remember, about 15 years ago, if you drove Route 17 you could hear just about every satellite format or syndicated program offered. I'm not sure if it's still that bad or if they have at least moved on to localized automation.
Whether it's a satellite, or home-grown automation, does it make a difference? If no one's home either way, does it matter? Automation doesn't have to always mean a bad thing..I remember long ago when WATS/WAVR in Sayre was a collection of cranky automation, but they were very much doing local radio. But I think in today's environment, automation of most any kind, just means nobody gives a damn, and is just running something to modulate the carrier. Now you don't have to get the satellite, you can just buy a format from Jones for your hard drive and it can grind away all day with no one running it. Now, if you back up your time frame from 15 years ago to about 25, you could drive up 17 out of NYC and from the Catskills across the Southern Tier you got treated to a lot of small town stations all doing some sort of live gig, with some real "hometown" styles of broadcasting! Ahh...those were the days.ThePickleReport said:
BrigThomson said:
I think it does matter. There's ways to be creative and local and not exactly live. It's all about attention to details---I've heard some creative PD's even make satellite more local in playing with liners and network re-joins.
Elmira-Corning: Three Class A FMs, three kiloWatt AMs: $1.7 million, 33% down, remainder financed at 7.8% over seven years, callable in the fifth anniversary date of the loan. Risky.
You've got to think that the asking price is based on cash flow. Scary, huh?
Risky isn't the word that came to mind.Radknowski said:
Like I mentioned earlier, get out the prayer books brothers and sisters because some religious organization is coming to Elmira/Corning and about to purchase themselves some radio stations. :
Waller Sutton wants to be out of the radio business faster than a stripper wants you to empty your wallet. Virtually all of their remaining properties have been "fire sale" priced, and it seems that they are ready to take pretty much whatever they can get from the first person who will say yes. There are also some rather fantastic stories circulating that they can't even pay their rent at some of their buildings, and the county sheriff has been showing up posting eviction notices. That doesn't seem possible, but who knows. It's a crying shame if there's any truth to it. I think if I was working for them, it might be a good time to get out the resume, and shine it up.Mark_Giardina said:Risky isn't the word that came to mind.Radknowski said:
Like I mentioned earlier, get out the prayer books brothers and sisters because some religious organization is coming to Elmira/Corning and about to purchase themselves some radio stations. :
Kevin Fitzgerald said:
They don't own most of their tower sites?
Who did this company hire as a broker, the Marx Brothers?
Sounds like it might be time to retreat to 1047 Davis Road, South Corning and let the downtown studio go. Having a location on Market Street I am sure is wonderful, but only if you are doing a good amount of broadcasting right in the window outlooking the street. Now the studios look deserted if you look in the window.
On another note, while walking down Market Street I noticed, and I swear this is true, that at least at one time (I think last summer) the Route 81 stations got the first electric chair used in NY State to display in the front window. This was a strange conversation starter to put in their window, I thought. Unless it was to point to in sales meetings......
Does anyone know why the electric chair was in the window? If you do, I'd love to hear the story.
Ben Smith
On another note, while walking down Market Street I noticed, and I swear this is true, that at least at one time (I think last summer) the Route 81 stations got the first electric chair used in NY State to display in the front window. This was a strange conversation starter to put in their window, I thought. Unless it was to point to in sales meetings......
Does anyone know why the electric chair was in the window? If you do, I'd love to hear the story.
Ben Smith
wirelessinnepa said:
That would be a shame to get rid of those studios on Market Street. If the station had live announcers 24/7, instead of automation and empty studios, it might actually attract some people to downtown Corning just to see a live radio show.
The facility is beautiful. I was there once a few years ago, and it sure beats the hell out of the old flooded house I had to work in when WCBA was located where part of Corning Inc is now. What I would have given to work in such a nice facility, with windows.
They also did not own their Carlisle, West Chester, Hazleton or Carbondale AM xmter sites either.Mark_Giardina said:
BrigThomson said:
What kind of business people are they to buy radio stations but yet not own their own transmitter sites? That just doesn't make any sense to me.
This is a perfect example of what happens when novices play radio.
I'd expect them to own their AM sites, but in many cases, the FM antennas and transmitter are parked on a TV tower. In E-C, I believe it's the shiny, new, tall, Public TV tower.Mark_Giardina said:
Years ago a friend in the biz told me that one of his company was looking at a mid-market FM which had an antenna lease that included inventory for the TV station in morning an afternoon drive during the May and November sweeps for the entire term of the lease! The weekly inventory was valued at thousands of dollars and it was not pre-emptable. Try getting out of that deal! You'd be surprised at how many companies lease their FM sites. Somebody called it "rent to own." That's an apt description. It's absurd. To me, it's a deal breaker.
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